Marc
Masculine · “of Mars”
Marc is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 140,604 boys against 533 girls since 1880. See Marc as a girl name
Marc is the French Mark, one clean syllable, familiar in American families for generations. It was carried by a painter who covered an opera ceiling in color and by a historian who explained his country's defeat and died resisting it.
How old is the name Marc?
Marc first appears in US birth records in 1901 — 124 years ago. The typical Marc alive today was born around 1973, making them about 52 years old. About 121,000 people named Marc are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marc most popular?
Marc peaked in 1970, reaching #60 nationally. Today it ranks #1235, 1,175 places below that high. See the whole 1970 chart.
Where it comes from
From Marcus to Marc
The story of Marc
Marc Chagall, born in a small Jewish town in what is now Belarus, was asked when he was past seventy-five to paint a new ceiling for the Paris Opera, and filled it with floating lovers, musicians and the landmarks of the city. The historian Marc Bloch, a founder of a new way of writing social history, wrote Strange Defeat about the fall of France, joined the Resistance, and was shot by the Gestapo. The name is recorded for a very few girls, but it is a man's name everywhere.
Meaning
of Mars, through Marcus
From Latin Marcus, a Roman first name usually linked to Mars, the god of war. Marc is the French spelling.
How the name formed
- Marcus
- Mark
- Marc
Related forms: Marc · Marco · Marcos · Mark
Pronouncing Marc
MARK
One syllable, said like Mark.
Nicknames for Marc
Limited
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1901
- Most boys named
- 19714,212 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #60reached in 1970
- Change vs 2023
- −16.5%162 in 2025, from 194
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Marc in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marc in French — same name
- Marco in Italian — same name
- Marcos in Spanish — same name
- Mark in English — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, New York.
Marcs among us
people named Marc are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 10,544 born in 2025 was named Marc
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Marc
- #1235
- Marc on the 2025 chart
- #229
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Marc went to 162 boys in 2025, but Mark and Marck are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 1,588, which makes it the 229th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,006 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 1,076 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 10,544 for Marc itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Eddie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Marc's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Eddie climbed just as high around 1910, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Eddie's path sketches the road Marc is walking now.
Marc sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Marc is headed
Marc should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Marc beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Marc in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is short, classic and easy to spell.
- It carries admired namesakes.
- It is familiar in many languages.
- People will write Mark and need correcting.
- Many associate it with an older generation of men.
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What they receive
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Marc
Masculine · #1235 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Marcs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 121,000 people named Marc are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Marc?
- Marc is one of 3 recorded spellings. Mark is the more common one — 1,416 births in 2025 against 162 for Marc.
- How popular is the name Marc in 2025?
- Marc ranks #1235 among US boy names in 2025, with 162 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Marc?
- About 1 in every 10,544 US boys born in 2025 was named Marc — 162 in all.
- Will my child share the name Marc with classmates?
- Marc will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Marc
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Viktor#1235 · Crosby#1235 · Eliyahu#1235 · Yasin#1235 · Westen#1235 · Mattias#1231 · Mike#1231 · Kendall#1231
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marc? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Marc and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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